In semiconductor manufacturing, energy commonly flows from an energy source toward a workpiece in order to provide energy to the workpiece or substrate for various purposes. Such energy is often converted into heat in the substrate. For example, in a lithography process, exposure from an energy source such as a light beam raises the temperature of the workpiece. Such an increase in temperature can deleterious reduce a sensitivity of the photoresist on the workpiece, thus deleteriously affecting the resulting device performance. The increase in temperature can further distort the workpiece, thus leading to errors in focusing and overlays.
Such heating problems become more severe in some advanced lithography tools, such as the Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) and Electron-Beam Direct-Write (EBDW) processing, where the exposure to the energy source occurs in a vacuum. Unlike traditional optical lithography tools or immersion lithography, more advanced lithography tools expose the workpiece to the energy source in a vacuum, where no air or water is typically present to cool the workpiece. Such an absence of convective or cooling can lead to various adverse effects in the resultant processed workpiece.